The Library
by marauderslashlover
Summary: A collection of Ideas, Plot Bunnies, and Oneshots for the Naruto Fandom. Chapter 1: Desert Mirage - In which Rasa's old teammate accidentally breaks the plotline.
1. Contents

This is a collection of my oneshots, short stories and ficlets. Theses stories are NOT UP FOR ADOPTION.

 **CONTENTS**

1\. Desert Mirage I

2\. Desert Mirage II


	2. Chapter 1: Desert Mirage I

What happens when a single person accidentally breaks the entire Plot of Naruto, completely by accident?

OC: Shinji Izumi, the Kazekage's guard.

* * *

Shinji Izumi, the Desert Mirage, was a cold-blooded killer. A terrifying genjutsu mistress. A powerful Jonin of Sunagakure no Sato. A veteran of the Daisanji Ninkai Taisen, The Third Great Shinobi World War. She had served under the Sandaime Kazekage, and then as a member of the Elite SAND division under the Yondaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Rasa. Now, she was the captain of the SAND squad assigned to the so-called 'last line of defence' squad protecting the Kazekage himself.

One who had risen from nothing, from being an orphan of the Second Great War, through sheer determination, blood, sweat, and tears (of her enemies, that is), was not easily surprised. Or easily ruffled. Or, as a matter of fact, anything but Calm, Composed, and Collected. In this blood-soaked world of theirs, to be otherwise was to invite death.

Yet, at the moment, she felt anything BUT calm. Within the privacy of her own mind (behind the extensive mental barriers she had developed over the course of many battles against the Yamanaka of Konoha) she was having a low-level panic attack.

Perhaps some context is necessary to understand what had pushed a veteran such as herself into such a panic.

Some weeks ago, the Kaxekage had asked Chiyo-sama to seal the Ichibi no Shukaku into his unborn child. His wife, Karura-sama, had been againgt the sealimg but had agreed to the plan. Since then, Karura-sama had remained in isolation, monitored by Chiyo-sama. That morning, Karura-sama had returned to her regular rooms within the Kazekage's residence. This in itself was not unexpected. A precarious procedure like the creation of a Jinchuriki was, after all, of utmost secrecy and delicacy.

What _was_ unexpected was that Karura-sama should look so tired aldready. Karura-sama herself was Jounin level kunoichi after all. The procedure surely could not have placed such strain on her as to cause visible strain upon a Jounin level Kunoichi. Kunoichi were specially trained in looking perfectly healthy and _surely something was not right here._ Every instinct she possessed was screaming in her mind that this was a Serious, Life-Threatening Matter. Izumi had survived a brutal war and a decade as SAND by listening very, very carefully to her instincts. Now, her instincts were telling her to take action, Immediately, lest _something_ became irreversibly damaged. Still, she was a consummate nin of Suna, and patience was ground into her bones. She could wait.

She waited patiently.

A week passed with no improvement. Though she was not a Professional Med-nin, she would go so far as to tentatively say that things were, in face, Getting Worse.

Karura-sama would wake up frequently at night, and was becoming progressively wearier by the day. Since this had, presumably, started after the Sealing, it was, probably, caused by the Sealing. Of course, since there were no records of the Ichibi being sealed into a human, she was reduced to guesswork and theories. Vague ideas, however, would not solve the problem.

Izumi used her next day off guard rotations discretely searching through the entire SAND library, Jounin library, Chunin library, Genin library, the Hospital library, and the Kazekage's private collection. Then, just for good measure, she asked the records-keeper, an aged Kunoichi veteran of the First Great War, about her…suspicions. Discreetly.

Izumi had finally come to some…unfortunate conclusions regarding the situation. The old legends were very clear, after all, in that roundabout, indirect way they generally had.

Another week passed, and a second day off was used to procure some … materials … she thought would be necessary. Kazekage-sama was rather stressed, between the paperwork demons that came with the position, managing the needs of his two children (Temari-sama was four and very energetic, and Kankuro-sama was two and had just started toddling around), and his beloved wife's ever worsening health … well, something would have to give.

The next day, she approached Kazekage-sama.

* * *

This is my first try at Naruto fandom. I hope it goes well.

Any prompts and requests are welcome!


	3. Chapter 2: Desert Mirage II

**Rasa's POV**

* * *

Rasa stepped into his bedroom, dreading another night of holding his wife through endless nightmares, only to be followed in by one of his SAND guards. He arched a fine brow, wondering why Izumi, one of his most trusted SAND captains was kneeling before him. Izumi bowed low, forehead touching the ground before his feet.

"Speak." He ordered curtly, wondering what was so important that his old teammate would disturb him in his bedchamber, yet so unrelated to official matters that she would actually approach him in his _bedchamber_.

"Kazekage-sama" she began, "This one has found a possible cause and solution for Karura-sama's sleeping problems.

Suddenly, Rasa felt much more alert. Karura, too, sat up from her position reclining upon the bed.

"Up, Izumi" commanded his wife, "Tell me what you have found that the med-nin could not!"

"And take off the mask" Rasa added. In this situation, he needed to see her face, to see if she was telling the truth. Izumi rose to a kneeling position, taking off her mask and looking up at him.

"The Ichibi is a tanuki, and, accouding to the legends, extremely alcoholic. Upon being sealed, initially within a priest, then within a kettle, it has gone without sake for a long time. This is also when the stories of Shukaku's madness and violence began to spread. Essentially, the biju is going through withdrawal symptoms and is lashing out with its chakra in its rage. This causes a leaking of such symptoms, namely increased sensitivity to pain, irritability, emotional instability, anxiety and restlessness or insomnia. The proplems are caused by chakra, not illness or any physical cause, and so cannot be detected by med-nin." She explained calmly, wondering idly whether Kazekage-sama would throw her to the psyc-nin or just kill her.

Rasa held up his hand to stop her. Unfortunately, it sounded all too plausible, in a crazy, chakra-theory sort of way. He knew his old teammate very well indeed, and would have married her if she had not been rendered barren in the war. She would have never said a word if she did not believe it was the absolute truth. Still, it was better to get all the details first.

"What solution do you propose?" he asked.

"Someone needs to enter the seal and communicate with the biju to reach some sort of agreement that preserves the health of Karura-sama and the child." Izumi said. "If that fails, the seal must be tightened to prevent chakre leakage from reaching Karura-sama."

Rasa considered this. Altering the Seal would be nigh impossibl given the quality of fuuinjutsu users in Suna, and outsiders could not be trusted with this. But there were enough reports of such things – Han and Roshi, the Jinchuriki of Iwa were fully capable of drawing on their biju's chakra – that it could be theorised that they had reached an agreement with their own biju. It was a possibility… "And who do you propose shall undertake this task?" he asked calmly. He aldready had some idea where she was going with this. Izumi was a genjutsu mistress after all, one who had experienced Yamanaka jutsu and had developed defences against mind based techniques. Besides, she was his teammate, and who else would he trust with such a delicate negotiation. The lives of his wife, and potentially his child, were at risk.

"If Kazekage-sama wishes it, this one would be honoured." Izumi said solemnly, looking into his eyes.

Rasa sighed through his nose, looking at his wife. Karura looked mildly surprised yet there was a dawning realisation in her eyes.

"I will consider it." He said to Izumi, "Dismissed."

She put on her mask, and vanished into the house. 


End file.
